Drabble of Epic Proportions
by Milkbonez
Summary: Strange false glitch Pokemon are trying to kill Missingno and his homies. Their power alone isn't enough to stop them. Can Missingno and Paul's clone overcome these "glitch killers" before they find their way into Glitch City?
1. Chapter 1

**I just want to say that, while this story can best be described as a big inside joke between a few friends and myself, there are so few obscure references that I think anyone can enjoy this story. If there's something you don't understand, feel free to ask via review or PM and I'll be happy to explain.**

**I do not own Pokemon or related characters (except for Paul's clone, who I consider a semi-OC); they belong to GameFreak, Nintendo and friends.**

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><p>The wind caressed the purple hair of Shinji's clone as he gazed up at the sky with disappointment. Huge, puffy, dark gray clouds stretched across the heavens. He dropped the black shirt he was about to hang up onto the clothesline back into the basket, atop the pile of damp laundry. The impending rain was a shame, since the clothes would not dry as quickly indoors. Silence greeted him as he padded back into the house and slid shut the glass backdoor.<p>

"Shinji! If you're still here, could you bring down some hangers?"

Clonie, as he was called, waited at the bottom of the staircase for a second before ascending the steps. Shinji must have already gone off for training practice while he was fetching the laundry. Reiji, their brother, was cleaning out the garage in the meantime. Setting down the basket at the top of the stairs, Clonie headed into Shinji's room and snatched a handful of coat hangers from the closet. When he turned around to leave, his heart leapt into his throat.

Standing in front of the bedroom door was a certain ten-foot-tall pixel square, shaped like a backwards L—the mythical Missingno. At first he dismissed it as a joke, as if Reiji had propped up a cardboard cutout of the notorious Pokémon, but he then realized that the creature was hovering above the ground. He squeaked involuntarily. Had it come to punish him for not believing its existence, or just to screw up his day?

Missingno hummed a low series of musical boops—but Clonie could clearly comprehend the words they formed: "You must be that Clonie fellow."

"H-How do you know my name?" he mumbled.

"A friend of mine sometimes mentions you in passing."

The teenager was taken aback; a few coat hangers dropped to the floor from his hand. "_You_ know someone who knows me? Who is it?"

"Just a Gastrodon who lives not far away. Enough idle talk; I must confirm that you are the clone of the one with powerful Pokémon."

"Shinji? Yes, his Pokémon are very strong in battle. He made it to the semi-finals in the Lily of the Valley Conference."

Missingno's voice became cheerily melodious. "Then you will be able to help me in my time of trouble. You see, I am not the only Pokémon of my category—there exist dozens of other 'glitchy' species that, if I am correct, your world has demoted to mere myths. We live in a hidden place of our own creation in Kanto, called Glitch City. We venture out from time to time to explore and find food.

"Recently, though, a few of my family members have been attacked by foreign glitch Pokémon, who are far different from us. Unprovoked, malicious attacks have befallen us as we wander away from our city."

Clonie gasped, "That's terrible! But… I thought you had the power to stop time and generally wreak havoc as you wish. If the myths are true, then I would think fainting a couple of enemy Pokémon wouldn't be too much of a stretch for you."

It made a quick fading whistling sound, a sigh. "It is only true for some of us—most of my family has a very, very destructive move that would easily dispatch these 'glitch hunters.' However, the move is very unreliable when it comes to side effects. It could level the entire region, or worst-case scenario, adversely alter the universe forever. Otherwise, the normal battle moves we possess, while exceeding the strength needed to kill natural Pokémon, carry little power against them."

"Yikes! Then what can I do?"

"I need you to assemble your Pokémon team and help me find a reason for their unexplained attacks."

Clonie cocked his head. "But, there are still a few questions I have for you. How do you know my—er, Shinji's Pokémon are even going to scratch the enemy glitches? And why did you choose _me_, of all the trainers you could have come to?"

Missingno gave a small, bleeping chuckle and answered, "I chose you because you are a glitch; I could sense that when I came into your presence. That is why you can understand my speech and others cannot."

The memory of his creation suddenly awakened in the clone's mind. It had started as a seemingly harmless experiment performed by Reiji shoving his unwilling brother into a special capsule hooked up to Champion Cynthia's computer. A simple coding typo resulted in a copy who appeared exactly like Shinji and who shared his memories, but who was also different in temperament and thought pattern. Still, he had never thought of himself as a "glitch."

The mythical pixel block interrupted his thoughts by continuing, "It therefore would make sense that the Pokémon of your original, powerful trainer obey you in battle. You are viable to help me." It moved aside to let him pass. "Gather your team. I'll explain the rest to you when you are ready."

The teenager obeyed, grabbing six Pokéballs from the dresser and heading downstairs to retrieve the monsters from the backyard. Shinji had taken several of the stronger Pokémon, such as Torterra and Honchkrow, so Clonie decided to take Toritodon, Nidoking, Weavile, Ursaring, Magmortar, and Ninjask with him.

Missingno, who had shadowed him outside, hummed, "If you are ready, then touch my body and remain still."

He tentatively reached out towards the strange Pokémon; when he touched it, he witnessed both their bodies turning into pixels, which separated into formless masses and floated off through the bloated wet clouds at an indescribable speed.

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><p><strong>Missingno is friends with Cynthia's Gastrodon, who is familiar with the Tobari brothers.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Suddenly the two were at the foot of several mountains, although it was definitely not anywhere near Mt. Coronet. Suddenly, the memories of Shinji training near these Kanto mountains for the Indigo League flooded back to Clonie's mind. Missingno turned about, looking around, drawing the human's attention to its flat shape. "This is where the latest attack happened, with my sister M being the victim."

"Did she make it out all right?"

"Indeed, but just barely. She told me she could not even touch her attacker."

"But what makes you think that my Pokémon can?"

A one-minute silence preceded the explanation: "To put it simply, we glitch Pokémon lack the raw power and useful typing that the natural Pokémon have. The exception is for the hybrids, and even then, their normal battle moves do not—"

With greater speed than Clonie's eye could follow, a yellow blur sent the pixel block reeling backwards with a shrill screech. A tiny, vicious Plusle was clinging to Missingno's upper appendage with oversized fangs that dripped with a purple-black venin.

Fingers trembling lightly, he reached for the first ball he felt in his pocket and unleashed Bluey from within. At the same time, Missingno managed to knock its offender away with a burst of water shot from its main body. The electric-type creature tumbled away into the bushes but recovered quickly; even more surprising than its move of choice was the fact that it was _levitating_.

Clonie barked hastily, "Torito, pin it!" Bluey, who had been gaping at the poison dribbling from the Plusle's lips, acted immediately upon the command. The Plusle writhed its body beneath the Gastrodon's slimy chest as he glared down at it.

"Are you all right?" the clone worriedly inquired of Missingno as it approached him. It emitted the 8-bit version of panting and nodded its upper body.

Bluey chuckled almost sadistically at the feeling of the glitchy Pokémon struggling underneath him, and he called back over his shoulder, "Can we kill off this weird mouse-thing now?"

A series of desperate beeps came from the glitchy Plusle as it flailed its head and ears. "N-No way, man, don't do that! How about I, like, just a-apologize and I'll go on my way, no hard feelings? Th-that would be m-much better than being buried out of existence!"

Missingno loomed over the Plusle, still growling. "How about you scratch my back before I scratch yours? Tell us where you come from, and we will release you. No hard feelings."

The electric-type hesitated as though weighing the pros and cons of this deal, while Bluey cocked his head at the geometric-shaped glitch. The former squeaked, "I c-came from the big wh-white building in the valley…"

"What valley?"

"The valley near a large snow-capped mountain to the west… I-I don't know the name of it." It squirmed again, grimacing. "Okay, I spilled my guts. Let me go!"

Missingno snorted and gave a reluctant nod to his human, who said, "Toritodon, finish it."

"What—!"

The blue-and-green slug launched scores of mud bombs from his gullet at his victim, the force so powerful that the recoil forced him backwards. Amid the pile of melting brown muck, the Plusle split into thousands of tiny squares and disappeared with its death.

Clonie turned to gaze at the mountains. The afternoon sun, which was not hidden behind any clouds as it had been in Sinnoh, shined in his face, causing him to raise his hand for shade. The mountain was in view. "Mt. Silver."


	3. Chapter 3

He and the two Pokémon trekked across the foot of the mountains for hours, all the while discussing their plans for razing the lab once they found it. Along the way, they had come upon many other glitch Pokémon that were on the hunt of Missingno's friends. Clonie was baffled by their appearances—they looked just like any ordinary Pokémon, except all of them, regardless of species, levitated just like Missingno. In any case, whenever the trio was spotted, Bluey swiftly dispatched the offenders.

Clonie spoke, "Hey, Missingno? You never did get to finish explaining to me about why these glitches are stronger than you."

"Really? I thought I told you about our lack of power, aside from the hybrids. Even still, the hybrids' battle moves are not that powerful, either—again, due to the virtue of being glitches."

"A hybrid? You mean, a glitch Pokémon and a normal one that—"

Missingno's pixels took on a reddish hue as it cut him off. "In a way, yes, though they are more glitch than natural. I am starting to believe some form of hybridization plays a role in the strength of the glitch hunters."

Presently they reached the foot of Mt. Silver itself. There was no big white laboratory as the Plusle hybrid had said, which meant that it must have rested in the valley on the opposite side of the mountain. Upon craning his neck up to try and see the top, Bluey collapsed onto the grass with a groan. "Why didn't I beg to get put away…?" he whined. "My feet are _killing_ me!"

As soon as he had said that, the clone remembered that his own feet ached massively. He took a seat beside his sea slug. "Yeah, after all that battling and walking, we deserve a short rest."

The floating block bleeped a low, impatient sigh and cast a glance at the mountain again before moving to land behind Clonie. "Be on your guard. I will cover you." Bluey squirmed into the shade that the larger Pokémon provided.

A prolonged silence accompanied their break; the occasional rustling of wild Pokémon caused the teenager to stiffen up in the midst of massaging his own feet. It must have been ten minutes before he slowly stood up again, and just as he was about to announce his readiness to continue, a large shadow passed over the trio. He tilted his head up, his body tensing yet again at the sight of an enormous bird gently circling towards them. "Toritodon, get ready."

Missingno turned about and whistled soothingly, "Be calm…"

As the bird came ever closer to the ground, its lack of circular features became apparent—the "curves" of the head and wings were rather boxy. It contorted into the same L shape as Missingno, albeit backwards, and landed several yards away from the group. Bluey gulped, intimidated at the glitch's size, which was twice Missingno's height.

"Finally, Missingno! I've been looking for you," it said, seeming relieved.

"I told you I was going to search for the one who could help us, and I did." Missingno turned to the human and the slug. "Clonie, Bluey, this is my sister, M."

Clonie smiled coyly at the larger glitch and bowed to her, since she had no hands to shake. He muttered a quick translation to Bluey, who could not understand glitchspeak; the latter whistled, "Your sister, huh? Yup, I can definitely see the resemblance—she's just a taller version of you."

"I also weight about two thousand pounds less." M chuckled at Clonie and Bluey's gaping faces after she said this.

Her brother rumbled indignantly. "Anyway, M, why did you come looking for me? After you had been attacked, no less!"

"Oh, right. One of the glitch hunters had found Glitch City, but we all were able to overcome it by sheer numbers. The others were frightened about such a thing happening again, so Charizard 'M was sent to patrol the airspace while I was asked to find you."

Missingno's upper appendage tilted down thoughtfully. Clonie cleared his throat gently and piped up, "We have information about a lab from where the glitch hunters are coming—in the valley beyond this very mountain—and we're going to destroy it."

"Is that so?" M inquired. "If I can help you in any way, I will."

The smaller block nodded. "Go home and report our news to the others."

"I'll do that. But, Missingno, they wanted me to give you a sort of warning: if the glitch hunters find our home again, we will do anything in our power to fend them off—even if it means using the super glitch attack."

The remark made Clonie's stomach tie up in knots. Missingno was silent, understanding.

M turned to the human and bowed before him. "Powerful trainer, please protect my brother." When he gave a small nod, she separated into thousands of individual pixels and warped away.

Bluey looked up at the other glitch. "Say, Missingno, how did you get a sister? Where did you come from?"

The block glided towards the mountains to coax them to continue moving. "It all started many, many decades ago, when humans were attempting their first test run of the machines used to revive Pokémon from fossils. Back then, computers had not been as widely used by the average person; only scientists and the military had easy access to them and knew how their programs ran. Using technology somewhat similar to that which is used in PC Storage, they tweaked and added many codes to their computers and machines. Soon they had created a machine that could produce flesh and bone from the DNA hidden inside fossils—or so they thought.

It paused to allow Clonie a moment to translate before carrying on, "There had been oversights in the programming and a kink in the machinery. When they ran a piece of amber through, the machine froze, so they did it a second time, which produced M and me. It took the men a few moments to realize that we were living creatures; they immediately showed us hostility once they did. We fled the area and, having nowhere else to go, leapt into the sea.

"They had been trying to fix the programming in the computer, and each time they spawned a different glitch Pokémon: Big-A, Rainer, and P-Cash, to name a few. We all ran into each other by Vermilion and, realizing that we're all family, decided to stick together and practice our unusual abilities. We do have the power to 'glitchify' our surroundings—sometimes against our will—so we snatched an old sailboat from the Vermilion docks and used our powers to create Glitch City. Because it is a rather small area that floats freely on the water, it is difficult to find."

The tale left Bluey speechless; he was clearly trying to wrap his mind around the whole thing. Clonie spent a moment analyzing it as climbed up a ridge towards the mountain. "You think maybe they're creating glitch hunters because they are threatened by your existence?"

"It certainly seems that way to me. Such persecution is completely unwarranted; my siblings and I have lived peacefully while keeping _away_ from humans."

"And I don't think they will be easy to convince that you mean no harm unless provoked."

The sea slug interjected, "So they'll have to learn the hard way!"


	4. Chapter 4

NO TRESPASSING.

VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.

Such read the sign on the looming chain-link fence that the duo had stumbled upon near sundown (Clonie had withdrawn Bluey to give him a rest). Down the hilly terrain contained within the fence was the pair of white, three-story buildings that was their destination. The building did not have very many windows, but light shown through the few that they saw. A Voltorb and a Grimer hovering together toward the lab caught their attention—the last of the glitch hunters returning to headquarters.

"How will we get in?" the teenager inquired, gazing up at the spiral of barbed wired that sat atop the fence. "I don't want them to shove me out at the front door."

Missingno stared intently at the building, watching the two hunters approach a window on the lowest floor. "I could break you in through that window. Then you could batter anyone that gets in your way while I find and tear down the machinery."

"What if the glitch hunters attack you?"

"I will elude them. Remember that you are in as much danger here as I am. I may not be able to take down the enemy glitches, but I can help you against any natural Pokémon that the scientists in there may be carrying."

Clonie gave him a tiny smile. "Right, we'll stick together until we're through." He climbed onto Missingno's thin body—damn, was it uncomfortable to sit on!—and the pair glided over the fence.

The creature's three-thousand pounds easily smashed the glass window and allowed them access to the large, bright room. Clonie hopped down and released all six of his Pokémon before the two men and one woman in the room could react. Also in the room were several shelves full of Pokéballs on one wall; an enormous, complex machine hooked up to a computer and a pod of some sort; and the Voltorb and Grimer from earlier.

They lunged for Missingno, but they were no match for Ninjask's speed, and Fury Cutter swiftly felled them. The three scientists were still staring wide-eyed at the pixel Pokémon; the woman began to chuckle. "This is just too perfect… the one creature we have sought for ages, right here in our hybrid room!"

Missingno tensely turned to the huge machine and checked the computer monitor; Clonie glanced back at it but knew he could make neither heads nor tails of the slashes and numbers and letters. Instead he demanded, "This is the room where you guys intentionally create unnatural, glitch Pokémon, am I right?"

One man stepped forth and responded, "We don't have to tell you anything! You're just a hoodlum who broke into our laboratory."

"And brought our target with him," muttered the second man. "I doubt you, boy, would understand any sort of explanation…"

Missingno abruptly faced Clonie again. "It was just as I suspected. They are running DNA through this machine and are using the computer to make the creatures into semi-glitched Pokémon—false hybrids. The syntax on the monitor suggests they were also programmed to serve their human creators."

"So…these aren't Pokémon." His onyx glare settled on the three adults across the room. "No, they're robots of flesh and pixels, sent to sniff out and kill something that has committed no crime."

The first man breathed, "You can understand it?"

The woman shouted, "You're speaking nonsense! This is Missingno we are talking about; who _hasn't_ heard of all the chaos it can create?" The second scientist male was releasing all the Pokémon from the shelved balls, one by one. "We at the Arturo Radley Research Facility are dedicated to performing 'taboo' experiments in order to help improve life for people and Pokémon. And in order to do that, we must eliminate Missingno!"

The three scientists threw down the balls that were attached to their belts. There were only four Pokémon between them—two Porygon, a Magnemite, and a Voltorb—but the other forty-odd creatures from the shelved balls were all false hybrids.

"Surround Missingno!" Clonie cried to his Pokémon, and the six of them formed a wall around the pixel. Ursaring swung Hammer Arms, Ninjask slashed Fury Cutters, Nidoking and Bluey fired Thunderbolts and Mud Bombs, and Weavile shot Ice Beams to defend the glitch. With purple orbs fired from its cannons, Magmortar set up a Rock Tomb wall about Missingno for further defense.

The latter floated up and shot a Water Gun attack into the crowd, struggling to aim for the scientists' four Pokémon. One hit a Magnemite dead in the eye, fainting it right off. Other shots bounced almost harmlessly off the false hybrids, some of which stayed alive long enough to retaliate. One Kingdra managed to shoot a few Pin Missiles at the block, which crashed into the hybrid machine.

The woman shrieked, "No! They're destroying the machine! Hold your fire!"

The second man shook his head. "We can't let our target escape! Porygon, Zap Cannon!"

Each of the Porygon pair formed a huge ball of yellow-white electricity, which they shot towards the intruding Pokémon. One landed a direct hit on Ninjask as it was busy dicing a Pidgeotto hybrid to pieces. The blow sent it flying backwards into the pod of the hybrid machine, which puffed with smoke and emitted crackling sparks. The other energy ball missed by a long shot and hit the ceiling instead, creating a bright, hot explosion. A large piece of the ceiling collapsed from the explosion, bringing down with it a desk of vials and various chemicals from a research project upstairs.

"Missingno! Ninjask!"

"What's going on in here?" demanded a different female scientist as two others hovered behind her in the doorway. They had arrived just in time to see Clonie throwing aside the huge, flat pieces of building, which had fallen upon the glitch-creating machine and, by extension, the Bug-type and the pixel block.

"That impertinent boy is trying to prevent us from finally deleting Missingno from existence! He's killing our hybrid glitches and has destroyed our machine!"

Those simple sentences were all it took to have the three newcomers sic their inorganic Pokémon on Clonie. It was his five against their eight, plus at least a score of hybrids to handle. He muttered, "Give your all to defeat them, guys! Handle the glitches first!"

The wall burst without warning and shards of the window's remains shot in all directions as a certain glowing pixel bird swept through for a powerful Sky Attack. Seven of the scientists' monsters were caught in the attack as well as four of the humans themselves. The widespread wings also sent a few hybrids tumbling away, allowing Weavile and Nidoking to finish pummeling the last natural Magneton.

M hunched over, having little room to stand up straight. "You guys all right? Clonie? Where's my brother?"

"Under here!" The teenager frantically pointed to the mess of metal and glass. M reached out a wing and turned the crushing mountain into pixels, sending them out the window. They rematerialized into scraps of the pod, computer, desk, and test tubes just before they crashed onto the ground.

As Clonie returned the brutally injured Ninjask to its ball, Missingno dazedly straightened up and looked up at its sister. "M? What are you doing here?"

"I had the feeling you two would need help," she replied, cocking her head. "And I was right."

"Quick Attack!" yelled one of the scientists.

Hearing that terrible command, M propelled herself backwards just in time to break through the wall to the side of the room to flee from an incoming Seel. At the same time, a Tentacool hybrid bolted across the room at an unnatural speed and tackled into Missingno, breaking through its thin body. Its pixels began swirling around in an odd spiral until a sickening sound echoed, a noise like the crunch of fangs and the tearing of clothes. The center of the spiral began to shine.

One of the men in the room began to chuckle malevolently. "Yes, yes! This must be that portal which leads to Glitch City! Go on, you hybrids, into the rift! Kill every glitch Pokémon you see!"

The remaining glitch hunters (odd, it seemed as though there were now) crowded and pushed and shoved into the portal as Bluey, Magmortar, Nidoking, Weavile, and Ursaring struggled to keep them from going. They were able to weaken a few of them, but all of the glitch hunters were able to pass through the portal. The adults haughtily approached Clonie. "As for you, boy, we will call the police and have you arrested for trespassing and destroying our property."

"You have forgotten me already?" screeched M, appearing before the trainer and towering threateningly over the researchers, still in bird form. They cowered and backed off, muttering to themselves about calling for help, as she instructed, "Clonie, withdraw your Pokémon and leap into the portal. I will join you shortly; time is of the essence."

The trainer recalled each of his Pokémon one by one—Weavile nodding shakily to the portal, "We're going in _there_, boss?"—and, after a moment's hesitation, stepped into the ten-foot-tall slice of light.

As for M, she exacted revenge by playing Mr. Potato Head with the six scientists and nearby objects.

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><p>Arturo Radley Research Facility<p>

**A**rturo **R**adley

**A**ction **R**eplay

Yes, the research facility is my version of an in-universe explanation of all the fun things you can do to hack the Pokemon games with the Action Replay, from deleting Bad Eggs and changing the trainer's name to messing around with IVs and EVs and creating/hatching eggs instantly. Looking back on this chapter, I suppose Arturo Radley is probably the head honcho of the whole facility - perhaps he should have made an appearance...


	5. Chapter 5

Clonie gawked at his surroundings upon emerging from the bizarre rift. It appeared as though someone had dumped all the materials to build a city here. Puddles, grassy patches, tiny trees, and standing sections of fences were scattered randomly among the roads; the rocky entrances of caves and rough dirt hills from mountains stood among the houses (even connected to them in some cases; and many of the buildings were half-built, half open to the world. A high wall surrounded the entire city, and everything was pixilated. Random white tiles with nonsensical number sequences decorated the roads and walls of buildings.

As he stood taking in all this, he realized that he could not see any other sort of creature that looked related to Missingno. He heard one of the false hybrids become conscious of this fact: "Everyone, tear down the buildings! They cannot hide forever."

He threw down his Pokéballs, and gathered his monsters before him, inquiring, "How are you guys holding up?"

Their shabby appearances seemed to tell him most of the story: Ursaring's and Weavile's fur was grizzled with loose tufts from slashes received. Magmortar's head-flames were burning less brightly, and the cannons on its arms had scratches all over. Nidoking and Bluey were covered with bruises and scrapes. Even still, Ursaring rumbled, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I can keep going."

The huge Fire-type blew clouds of black smoke from its cannons in a response. Nidoking nodded, waving around his horn, but suddenly he glanced upwards at the ravaging glitches and blinked. "As tough as we are," he groaned, "I don't think we can surmount enemies that can regenerate themselves…"

The other four monsters plus trainer lifted their heads. After some ten seconds, a Houndoom spawned unexpectedly in the air. It stood stock still for but a moment before joining its brethren on the hunt. Bluey's jaw dropped. "How _do_ we kill them, if they just appear like that?"

Clonie was given no time to think for he heard the frightened cry in the distance. "J-Just attack relentlessly! If you work quickly enough, you may be able to defeat them all before they are able to reappear. Go!"

His Pokémon attempted to obey, but the faulty ground was unpredictable beneath their feet. Ursaring's foot sank into a watery puddle that looked like a patch of grass, and Bluey, after passing by a fragment of a fence, could not move forward. Clonie pushed and pulled, even had Magmortar to help, to no avail.

"What could be taking M so long?" he whimpered uneasily, shouting the glitch's name down the portal, wondering if she could even hear him.

"Huh? What is that over there?" Weavile pointed a claw at a wiggling, hovering Rhydon-shaped Substitute doll. It poked its head out from underneath a bush, checking for any danger, before hastily drawing close to the group.

"You are looking for M? Are you the help Missingno fetched for us?"

Clonie nodded. _This one must be on our side_. "Who might you be?"

"I am called P-Cash," bleeped the doll. It turned towards the five natural Pokémon. "Did they have trouble walking around here?"

"Yes. My Toritodon is stuck beside that fence. Might you be able to help them—" He winced as Magmortar shot a Flamethrower attack at an approaching Tropius hybrid that was about to swoop upon P-Cash.

P-Cash nodded and ducked under the ashes. It circled Bluey once and then touched him with its horn. Bluey's entire body became a collection of squares and, as he freely squirmed out, returned to normal. He did the same with the other five, and they no longer had trouble walking on the odd land. "There you go. Say, you're all looking a little beat. Need a quick replenishing?"

"Would you?" The trainer raised his brows in surprise at such hospitality.

"Most certainly." The doll's ears glowed, and it flicked them at each of Clonie's party. Right before their own eyes, their injuries disappeared, and they felt stronger than ever. The teenager held up Ninjask's ball to P-Cash, and the Bug-type was soon darting after false hybrids ferociously.

But by this time, Glitch City was alive with killings. The glitch hunters were quickly flushing out and eliminating large groups of glitch Pokémon. Herds of floating pixel blocks, unable to defend themselves, scrambled about the streets to try and escape. A few of them, like P-Cash itself, sprouted large protrusions from their main bodies and tried to take a few out themselves with a reckless Horn Drill attack. Unfortunately, the move's poor accuracy meant that it was sheer luck if they ever hit the false hybrids. One purple block of garbled squares that looked about as tall as eight Missingno shot Confuse Rays out at the attackers as it helped get others over the city's surrounding walls.

A Stantler-shaped glitch rose up and roared, "I can't take this anymore! I ain't going to sit here while we all die!" It emitted a prolonged, earsplitting, musical screech. Several others joined it, and color seemed to disappear gradually from the city.

The purple tower of a glitch reached out part of its square body and slapped all of the shrieking monsters, growling, "No! M and Missingno would not want us to do this. That human right there, he is our help. We must leave everything to him!"

"He isn't even doing anything, H-Poké! There must be at least fifty hunters running amok, and he only has six Pokémon that can defeat them all!"

Clonie yelled back with frustration, "It would be easier if those hunters stopped randomly cloning themselves!"

M glided up in her block form, demanding, "What's going on?"

P-Cash said simply, ".4 is trying to destroy the universe!"

The Stantler glitch yelled, "Better than dying and leaving the universe intact!"

"Enough! I figured that the false hybrids have begun to reappear after Missingno was…fatally injured."

A Charizard with a square tail-flame cocked its head. "Fatally injured?"

H-Poké gasped, "Missingno is dead?" The phrase caused another wave of panic amongst the glitch Pokémon.

Clonie whistled piercingly to get their attention. "Listen, listen! We can't defeat the hybrids if we can't think straight enough to plan." He turned to his L-shaped companion. "M, is there a way to prevent the glitch hunters from popping up all the time?"

"Look out!" H-Poké, with its great size, shielded everyone from a barrage of attacks from said hunters. It grabbed Magmortar and held it out so the Fire-type could fend off more blows. "Hurry up, guys, please!"

M snapped, "To answer you, no, there isn't. When Missingno is fatally injured, the rip in reality that leads to our Glitch City also causes his killers to clone themselves without rhyme or reason. It has only happened once before, and the offender was a natural Pokémon that I was able to defeat easily. Here, our city gives off a sort of 'radiation' that makes halting their cloning impossible."

Clonie looked up at a Fearow hybrid battling with Ninjask high up in the air, his bug confounding the glitch with its superior speed. "Isn't there a way to maybe slow it down just enough?"

The Charizard hummed, "Perhaps we could use our super glitch attack to our advantage…"

"What do you mean, Charizard 'M?" P-Cash inquired, genuinely curious, along with all the others present.

"Well, one effect of our glitch attack is stopping time. Perhaps if a group of us used the move but held back on the power, we might slow down time and the hunters' cloning process. If the human shields his Pokémon from the effects, they may still move at normal pace, allowing them to kill all the hunters."

M considered. "It is a risky move but the only option we have thus far."

Clonie gulped. "How will I shield my Pokémon from the effects?"

"I will help you with that." The L-shaped pixel nodded her upper appendage.

The trainer called all his monsters close enough to return them to their balls. H-Poké fired off one more Confuse Ray at the offenders before straightening up with P-Cash, Charizard 'M, .4, and others. Without warning, M wrapped around Clonie and became a ball surrounding him, and the screeching started once again. Colors faded, and the eyes of the false hybrids widened as they slowly began to comprehend what was happening.

Clonie did not move until he saw the slit of an opening in the pixel ball. He forced M open with ease, taken aback by how he was the only one in the city now who had any color to him. He carefully unleashed his Pokémon and allowed them a short while to trip balls over this.

"Now is your chance, guys," he told them, glancing up at the pixels as the waved like flags in slow motion. "I don't think they can keep this up forever!"

"Yessir!" The sextet charged into the city to tackle their threescore opponents. Even though they traveled at the speed of light-sound compared to the hunters, it took an eternity to kill them all as well as the occasional half-formed clone. Clonie, seeing that they were finished, then ordered a harsh nudge on each of the Pokémon performing the super glitch attack to abruptly halt the time-slowing effects.

The streets were flooded suddenly with various pixel creatures, gathering round to demand what had just happened and why the hunters had suddenly disappeared. P-Cash announced, "Our troubles have ceased, my cousins! The one called Clonie and his brave Pokémon have saved us all!"

Charizard 'M lifted Clonie onto its back. "Three cheers for our hero!"

"It isn't time to celebrate yet!" barked M sharply, and she nodded towards the portal. It used to be ten feet tall, as large as Missingno; now, it was less than half that height. Knowing that Clonie would not realize what was going on, she explained, "We do have a chance to revive Missingno, but only if we get a certain kind of natural Pokémon through the portal before it shuts permanently. That is why I told you to withdraw your Pokémon before we came through."

"I remember that. What kind of Pokémon would suffice?"

M scanned over the sextet and pointed to Nidoking. "He will do. The question is if he wants to do it, because he won't come back."

Clonie climbed down from the dragon's back and glanced at the Poison-type's puzzled face. "Nidoking? They tell me that we can save Missingno, but… only if you are willing to sacrifice yourself."

"Wait!" A normal-looking Gloom padded into the open, a trail of saliva dribbling down its lips. "It's me, H-Poké. I just evolved—and I think maybe I should perform this last job."

A collective gasp; murmurs of his bravery reverberated. He strolled over to the portal, but M stopped him. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

The grass-type gave a confident nod. "The human saved our existence. He and his Pokémon need a break." With that, he wriggled into the rift. The light suddenly distorted like television static, which formed into a tornado of pixels that formed into that recognizable backwards-L shape.

"Missingno!" M head-butted her brother in an overjoyed, affectionate gesture.

Charizard 'M roared, "Rejoice, everyone! We have peace in our city again!" At this call, all of Glitch City shouted out in jubilation, surrounding Clonie, bowing to him, giving him endless thanks and praise.

They made way for Missingno to approach the teenager. Slowly, it unzipped his main body horizontally to a point, and then it shifted the gap to look like a grinning mouth. "There is no way we can repay you for what you have done for us."

All of this attention flustered Clonie. "Y-You don't have to worry about it."

"Perhaps you would like to stay awhile and get better acquainted with my family?"

"Sure, th-that sounds good!"


End file.
